Ravenna 1 ...

Ravenna cannot compete with Venice in its general beauty, being a fairly average small modern city in outward appearance.  However, Ravenna is home to no less eight UNESCO World Heritage Sites in the form of churches from the era of the collapse of the Roman empire.  We all learned about the Goths and the Huns at school - in Ravenna, the transition from Roman to Gothic to Byzantine )ie Greek Orthodox) is visible in these monuments.  A lot to discover!

To help us in our discoveries, we hired bikes from a friendly garage, and set out to see the sites - most of which are adorned with fabulous Byzantine mosaics dating from the 6th century.

Built by a Goth - The Mausoleum of Theodoric the Great in 520AD to be his tomb

The round bell-tower of the church of Sant' Appollinaire - most of the campanile in Ravenna were round.  Hawk-eyed viewers will see Barbara on her bike at the foot of the tower!

And within, the mosaics are marvellous - here the three kings proudly present their gifts - in such fancy trews!

An oddity - and a mystery.  Disembodied hands are all that remain of the figures placed here by the Visigoth artists in 504AD.  Around 550, when the Orthodox Christians(=Byzantines) had invaded, the figures were removed, leaving only these ghostly remnants ...

Night falls on Ravenna - just round the corner from our B&B, lies the ancient Byzantine Basilica di San Vidale, with its round tower

In our restaurant that evening, what passes for an hors d'ouevres for one person was all delicious, but even tackling it together, we were struggling to leave room for another course!